


three men and a spider-man

by DangerousLiaisons



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Best Friends, Bickering, Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark Friendship, Cute, Friendship, Gay Parents, Happy Ending, Light-Hearted, M/M, Post-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 09:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30036858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DangerousLiaisons/pseuds/DangerousLiaisons
Summary: stuck in space, peter just wants his “dads” to stop bickering and find a way home
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	three men and a spider-man

**Author's Note:**

> hope y’all enjoy!

Steve tries to rack his brain about how they are going to get home. Tony is doing his best, but they’re still in a completely different galaxy with a half-way functioning spaceship, and a 20-year-old Spider-Man who is too young for this shit.

Not to mention Steve and Bucky just want to sleep. And they tried. They told Tony and Peter not to bother them unless it was an emergency. But they barely slept, just grew more and more irritated with the rattling of the ship. So, they locked the door and the husbands occupied each other in some other ways that required no sleep.

But then Tony yelled at them for taking too long and not getting back to watching the map or something and now, reality is setting in. It’s been days, Steve thinks, of wandering aimlessly.

“It wasn’t even necessary to come all the way out here,” Steve complains. “We just wanted to see Thor. Now we’re gonna die.”

“We’re not going to die,” Tony retorts.

“I don’t want to die,” Peter says, eating some cereal. The two argue over him as he sits at the makeshift table.

“Listen, we need to put our heads together and just make it work. Otherwise, we _will_ die. And the kid is too young for that,” Bucky says, trying to find some other food.

“I’m not _that_ young,” Peter grumbles. “But yeah, no dying please.”

“Eat your cereal,” Tony snaps.

“I said we shouldn’t have brought him,” Steve rolls his eyes. “Bucky’s right, he’s too young for this.”

“Well, why don’t we let _Bucky_ steer us back to Earth if he’s so knowledgeable!”

“I just might, Tony,” Steve growls.

“Guys, stop,” Bucky says. “Where did my granola bars go?”

“Oh,” Peter looks down. “I kinda made them into this cereal. Sorry.”

“Great,” Tony says. “Now the Winter Soldier is gonna starve.”

“He’s not the Winter Soldier,” Steve snaps.

“I’m sorry,” Tony mocks. “Captain America’s husband is going to starve. My bad.”

“Be nice to him!” Steve commands.

“I’d be nicer to him if he even tried to help us get home! I mean, he just works out and watches everyone all day,” Tony says, suspiciously eyeing the soldier. “Kinda weird, Cap.”

“Guys, come on,” Peter sighs.

“Just let them hash it out,” Bucky says, resuming his search for food. Peter waves the passivity off.

“He’s just quiet. Maybe you should try to be friends with him! Maybe he just wants to get to know my best friend a little,” Steve retorts.

“Well, I’m really happy you and I are best friends, Cap. And I’ll get to know Bucky as well as you’d like if we live. How’s that?”

“Guys,” Peter groans. “Stop.”

“Maybe if you weren’t so stubborn, we could’ve just settled this a long time ago,” Steve says.

“Me? Stubborn? You were frozen for 70 years.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Steve yells.

“Stop!” Peter yells even louder. “Just stop.” He holds his hands out as if to keep the two men at bay. “I had no idea that when I became an Avenger I’d be getting three dads that were going to fight all the time.”

“We don’t fight all the time,” Steve sulks.

“I’m the cool dad, I call it,” Tony quips, not being able to help himself.

“Honestly, Bucky’s been the coolest,” Peter says, contemplating. “But, wait, that’s besides the point. You guys are acting like kids and you just need to calm down and stop blaming each other. We’re all stressed and angry, but we just need to stop and think for a moment. We can get out of this together. As a family.”

Silence falls as they think about his words. Tony and Steve exchange various angry looks.

“Kid’s got a point,” Bucky says after a few moments.

“Thank you,” Peter exhales.

“I _am_ the coolest dad.”

“Oh, my god,” Peter sighs.

“Whatever,” Tony snaps. “I’m going to the engine room.” He storms off.

Steve puts his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “I appreciate all your help, kid. You remind me a bit of myself when I was younger.”

Peter groans and puts his face in his palms.

“What?” Steve asks, looking to Bucky.

“Such a lame dad thing to say,” Bucky laughs.

Steve rolls his eyes.

“Come on, Peter. Cool Dad will play some video games with you,” Bucky says gesturing for Peter to follow. “I got this. Don’t worry, baby,” he winks to Steve.

Steve mirrors Peter’s actions and puts his head in his hands. He breathes deeply for a few moments, slowly inhaling and even more slowly exhaling. Then he goes to find Tony.

“So,” Peter says as he starts Super Smash Bros.

Bucky raises an eyebrow.

Peter nods.

Bucky laughs. “What’s on your mind?”

“You and Steve seem really happy together,” Peter says hesitantly.

Bucky furrows his brow. “Yeah. Things have been pretty good after Shuri unscrambled my brain. Why?”

“I just,” the younger man sighs. He sends Bucky’s character flying off the screen. “I just want that in the future. And all this talk of dying. I’m scared I’ll never get to have that.”

Bucky exhales. “You’ll get it, kid. Trust me. Think about it this way. Steve and I started dating in the 40s. It’s 2023 now. We both should’ve died so many times, and we’ve been torn apart so many more times. But we’ve still found a way back to each other every single one of those times. You’ll have that, too. Hopefully a lot simpler, but you will. If Steve and I can do that, you’ll be fine.”

Peter nods. “Okay.” He sighs, then nods again. “Okay. We'll get through this. We’ll be okay,” he says to himself. “Bucky’s not worried about dying so I shouldn’t be because he should’ve died a million times.” Then he looks up. “Maybe you can’t die.”

“Seems that way. So, just stick with me. You’ll be fine,” he says. “Hey, I think I’m getting the hang of this game.”

Peter smiles. “Thanks, Cool Dad.”

Bucky laughs and nods. “No problem, kid.”

“Tony?” Steve calls out once he enters the engine room.

“What,” he says, but there’s no indication it’s a question, just an annoyed sign he's no longer alone. He’s under the engine, so just his bottom half is exposed.

“I’m sorry,” Steve says. “Peter was right. I’m frustrated and I don’t want to take that out on you.”

“Yeah, you are frustrated,” Tony scoffs.

“Tony, come on,” Steve groans. “I’m trying.”

“Try harder.”

“Excuse me?”

Tony sighs. He slides out from under the engine and stands face to face with his friend. “You’re talking about trying harder but you need to take accountability. You were gonna blame this whole failure on me.”

“Okay, consider this me taking accountability. This was not your fault. We all should’ve planned everything through more.”

“Thank you.”

Steve raises an eyebrow.

“What?”

“Usually, the other person will apologize too,” Steve says.

“Fine, Cap. I’m sorry,” Tony says. “I’m sorry that you were too engrossed with your husband when you should’ve been watching the map.”

“Oh, come on. Is that what this is about? You being mad about me spending time with Bucky?” Steve scoffs.

“No,” Tony snaps back.

“Then… what?”

“I’m mad at myself,” Tony sighs. “I see you two having fun and being happy. And I get mad at myself for not trying harder with him. He’s my best friend’s husband and I can’t remember the last time I had a conversation with him.”

“Tony,” Steve says, empathetically.

“You said it yourself, he wants to get to know me, but I just wish I didn’t have a hard time with it all. Which I know sounds so fucking stupid because of everything that happened. Because _I_ should be the one waiting for him. _He_ should be the one getting angry with himself.”

Steve goes to speak, but Tony knows what he’s going to say. “I know, Cap. I know he does get angry with himself. I hear the nightmares. But I see him now. He’s changed so much. He’s such a good man. And he makes you happy. Peter too. I just… I don’t know.”

“Tony,” Steve says again. “You can’t rush healing. You should grieve however you prefer. Bucky and I are not going anywhere. Baby steps.”

Tony nods.

“And you’ve changed a lot, too. I couldn’t stand you when we first met.”

Tony scrunches his face in doubt.

“Okay, only sometimes you got on my nerves. But then you were the best man at my wedding. Because you’re a good man, too.”

“Thanks, Steve,” Tony sighs. “I mean it.”

“Of course.”

The inventor smiles softly and pats Steve’s shoulder. But Steve pulls him into a suffocating hug and squeezes him tight. Tony hugs back.

“Listen, I’m glad you two are so happy. If anyone in this galaxy deserves happiness with their soulmate, it’s you two after the shit you’ve been through. I don’t even care that you left the map unattended,” he jokes. Then his face grows serious. “That’s it!”

“What?”

“The map,” Tony beams. “It’s not an issue with the engine. The map shouldn’t be programmed to Earth. The radio frequency would never make it this far on this hunk of junk. We’ll just aim for the sun’s heat signature. That will be much easier to pick up. “

“It’s that easy?” Steve says, not believing it.

“Steve, sometimes it’s so easy that even you, a dumb blond, can understand it.”

Steve can’t help but laugh.

The captain and the inventor find Bucky and Peter competitively entranced by the TV.

“Maybe Bucky’s more of a kid than a third dad,” Tony says.

“Really?” Steve replies. “Coming from you of all people?”

Tony scoffs. “Alright, boys. We’re ready to go. Just made some tweaks and we’ll be flying towards the sun at hypersonic speeds as soon as we all strap in.”

“What?” Bucky says.

“Towards the sun?” Peter says.

“It’s fine,” Steve assures. “Let’s just get the hell out of space.”

And that’s exactly what they do as soon as they secure themselves in the seats.

At first, they’re going so fast they pass out. But as they get into the Milky Way, the ship slows down enough to regain consciousness. The sun starts as a dot, and it’s beautiful. They never tire of the trillions of stars and planets that surround them.

The sun grows closer and closer until Tony takes over and speeds them back down to Earth. Right down to the Avengers headquarters in upstate New York. Then the sun is just the distance away it should be.

The four collapse onto the grass and look up at the midday sky. They all exhale at once.

“Lunch soon?” Bucky asks.

“Yeah,” Tony nods. “I can make you something, Bucky.”

Steve smiles and pulls his husband closer. “My boys,” he whispers.

Peter laughs for a moment, still staring up at the sky.

“What’s so funny?” Tony asks.

He hesitates and laughs for a little bit longer before speaking.

“My dads are so gay.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for readinggggg ! :)


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